How to Get to General Santos

There are many different transportation options whenever you're planning a trip to General Santos City, otherwise known to the locals as their beloved Gensan. Your options are to travel by air or by sea. Though your travel options may be varied, you should check which ones are more convenient or more practical for you. We have also added other options you might want to take as an alternative if flights are fully booked or otherwise unavailable.

Flying from Manila to General Santos City will take around an hour and 45 minutes via a direct flight. However, if you can't book a direct flight from Manila you can take the second option. The other transportation option to get to Gensan is to fly from Manila heading to Cebu. From Cebu, you can take a connecting flight going into the city. The catch with this alternative option is that you add more than an hour to your travel.

A third option, which lamentably adds more hours to your travel time, is to fly to Davao City from Manila. That trip will take around one hour and 30 minutes, which is the easy part of the trip. The hard part of the trip is traveling from Davao City to General Santos. You may have to travel by land from Davao to get to Gensan. The overland travel from Davao City will take around three hours. The good thing about this transportation option is that you get to see the beauty of the countryside.

A couple of airline companies, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, have daily flights scheduled from Manila to Gensan. The flights from Manila may be scheduled daily but you should check with the airline company of your choice since changes to flight schedules may occur. The direct flight from Manila will cost around P2,300 for economy class trips to around P2,800 for standard fare trips.

If you plan to go for the second option flying via Manila-Cebu then you should be ready for added costs and additional travel time. The Manila to Cebu flight will cost you around P2,000 and the trip from Cebu to General Santos will cost you around P6,000 at the max or a little more than P1,000 if you are able to get a promo fare. An economy class flight from Cebu to Gensan will cost around P5,000. You may even have to double your travel time by taking the connecting flight. Of course, you'll only go for this transportation option if you can't get a direct flight to Gensan.

The Manila to Davao trip will cost around P2,500. Traveling by land from Davao to Gensan will add three hours to your travel time. Now, if you're coming from Angeles City, your best option is to drive from Angeles to Manila and then take a direct flight to General Santos City. That by the way may well be your cheapest flight. The other option is to fly to Cebu, which would cost you around P2,500 and then fly from Cebu to Gensan.

If you plan to travel by sea then you'll have a couple of transportation options. Your first transportation option is to get on a passenger ship from Manila to General Santos while your second is to go from Manila to Iloilo then travel from Iloilo to General Santos. The direct sea voyage from Manila to Gensan will take around three days, which gives you some time to enjoy the trip if you're not in a hurry. Now, depending on your chosen onboard accommodations, your sea voyage will cost you from P2,000 to around P6,000.

The Manila to Iloilo trip will take about a day and would cost around P1,400 minimum fare. The Iloilo to Gensan trip will take a couple of days and will cost around a minimum fare of P2,000. You'll have to make choice whether the direct trip will be more convenient or changing from one vessel to another is better for you.

These are your Gensan travel options. Pick the travel option that is more convenient or otherwise practical. Take note of alternative means of transportation in case some options are unavailable.